TY - JOUR
T1 - Enjoyment of Sexuality and Longevity in Late Midlife and Older Adults: The Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam
T2 - The Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam
AU - Beerepoot, Shanice
AU - Luesken, Suzanne W M
AU - Huisman, Martijn
AU - Deeg, Dorly J H
N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam is supported by a grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Directorate of Long-Term Care. The funder had no role in the conduct of this study and in the writing of this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Sexual well-being refers to the evaluation of one's sexuality. We examined the association of enjoyment of sexuality with longevity and the moderating role of perceived importance of sexuality in this association. In the population-based Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam, the survival of initially 55-84-year-olds was followed during 27 years. Complete data were available for 1042 participants (45.3%). Analyses were adjusted for health-related and psychosocial covariates. 60% of the participants experienced their sexuality as enjoyable and 44% as important. Enjoyment of sexuality was weakly, positively associated with longevity (B[CI] = 0.29[-0.004;0.58]). Perceived importance modified this association: only in those who perceived sexuality as important, the association between enjoyment and longevity was statistically significant (B[CI] = 0.78[0.29;1.27]). Positive affect, functional limitations, emotional loneliness, self-rated health, sense of mastery and alcohol consumption accounted for 35% of the latter association. Interventions may target older adults who perceive sexuality as important but not enjoyable.
AB - Sexual well-being refers to the evaluation of one's sexuality. We examined the association of enjoyment of sexuality with longevity and the moderating role of perceived importance of sexuality in this association. In the population-based Longitudinal Ageing Study Amsterdam, the survival of initially 55-84-year-olds was followed during 27 years. Complete data were available for 1042 participants (45.3%). Analyses were adjusted for health-related and psychosocial covariates. 60% of the participants experienced their sexuality as enjoyable and 44% as important. Enjoyment of sexuality was weakly, positively associated with longevity (B[CI] = 0.29[-0.004;0.58]). Perceived importance modified this association: only in those who perceived sexuality as important, the association between enjoyment and longevity was statistically significant (B[CI] = 0.78[0.29;1.27]). Positive affect, functional limitations, emotional loneliness, self-rated health, sense of mastery and alcohol consumption accounted for 35% of the latter association. Interventions may target older adults who perceive sexuality as important but not enjoyable.
KW - Aged
KW - Aging/psychology
KW - Humans
KW - Longevity
KW - Pleasure
KW - Sexual Behavior/psychology
KW - Sexuality/psychology
KW - enjoyment of sexuality
KW - older population
KW - perceived importance of sexuality
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85127367478&origin=inward
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35324364
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127367478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648221078852
DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648221078852
M3 - Article
C2 - 35324364
SN - 0733-4648
VL - 41
SP - 1615
EP - 1624
JO - Journal of Applied Gerontology
JF - Journal of Applied Gerontology
IS - 6
ER -